


Happy Birthday

by minsfirstlove



Category: CIX (Band)
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Childhood Friends, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:01:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26060854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minsfirstlove/pseuds/minsfirstlove
Summary: She doesn't want to spend her birthday on her own.
Relationships: Bae Jinyoung/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Happy Birthday

On her tenth birthday, her mum baked her a beautiful cake decorated with small figures of fairies and pretty flowers, her favorite.

She knew her mum stood for hours in the kitchen, making sure the batter tasted good—that she'd liked it—and when she clambered in there, rubbing her eyes sleepily after a nap, and her eyes shining bright and wonderful before begging to her mother to let her try a spoonful (it was delicious, of course).

And when her family set the cake in front of her, alight with candles and a mountain of frosting so high she could barely see over it, she couldn't help but smile really wide. There were sounds of cheering and clapping from children all around her, her friends from school, and neighbors that were invited by her mum. But sitting on the furthest chair, there was a young boy−maybe a couple years younger than her−looking timid and nervous on his own.

“Go greet him, sweetie. His family just moved here yesterday.” Her mum whispered and smiled at her. She nodded obediently and carefully brought a slice of her cake towards that boy.

“Thank you for coming to my birthday party! This is for you.” She grinned, showing him her best smile. The little guy accepted the plate and smiled back sheepishly, kind of embarrassed from the sudden spotlight.

She sat next to him, asking him curious questions while he answered with a small voice, busy munching the cake. _Where did you come from? Do you have any siblings? What is your favorite color? Wanna see my toys collection?_

His eyes got bigger from hearing the last question.

“I like toys,” he mumbled. She stood up excitedly, patting the glitter on her pink dress.

“Good then, let’s go to my room!” Happy from getting a new friend, she offered her small hand towards his, and he held it back.

And since then, they were inseparable.

***

On her twenty-sixth birthday, she woke up with a groan. If it weren’t for the phone call she got from her parents this morning, maybe she wouldn’t have remembered it was her birthday. She actually had reserved a table in a nice restaurant for dinner with her old friends in this weekend, but she had to cancel it yesterday because of a sudden change in her work schedule.

She loved her new job, she truly did, but the insane schedule and constant relocation for the past few months that came with it made it really hard to maintain relationships, or even friendships, for that matter. Her current social circle was mainly made up of work acquaintances, and truth be told, she didn’t think any of them even knew it was her birthday.

She did not want to spend his birthday alone, but her family was kilometers away, and asking someone from work to spend some of the day with her sounded just dreary.

So, she was kind of surprised when her mum called and told her that her parents were going to send a box of her mum’s well-loved home-baked cake to her apartment.

_Sweetie, do you still remember him? Your childhood friend back in the days? He had just graduated from college, and now he’s currently looking for a job in your city. He’s going to move there today, we thought it would be nice to ask him to entrust our cake for you. We gave him your apartment address and he said it’s completely okay._

She tried to reassemble her childhood memories. Of course, she remembered him, that timid little guy. Each and every vacation, she and him had been inseparable. Partners in crime. Attached at the hip. He was arguably her friend for eleven years straight until she moved to another city in her college years.

But realistically, she had no idea if this sudden encounter was going to be a consuming awkwardness or happy homecoming. More importantly, she had not spoken to him in five years. Five years was a very, very, very long time. _People will change_ , she mused to herself.

Her morning coffee had gotten cold while she waited for something, anything, to happen and make this day special, so she emptied her mug in the sink.

_Ding dong. Ding dong._

Her head turned instinctively at the familiar sound of her apartment door’s bell, and before she could prepare herself, suddenly she was very much staring at _him_. Standing in front of her, was no other than her childhood friend in the flesh.

 _He’s tall_ , it was the first thing she thought, and her heart seemed to slow down for a beat or two only to start pounding a second later. He was tall. Unexpectedly tall and looking delightfully handsome.

“Happy birthday.” He was standing there, with a wide smile plastered on his face, while showing her a beautiful cake decorated with the well-known fairy figures and flower decoration on the top of it.

She wanted to cry.

And finally, she broke down. Sobbing while closing her face with her hands, the tears kept falling down.

Flustered with her reactions, he panicked. “Wait, wait! Please don’t cry. Did I do something wrong? Are you sick? Should I call your mom?”

“N-n-no.” She mumbled the words between her sobs. “I’m just. Seeing you again−seeing that cake again, just, I don’t know. Reminds me of home. I miss home, I guess.”

He sighed with relief. His shoulders were broader now, and he had grown into his frame. He was more filled out than she had even ever expected. Standing with an air of maturity that suited him quite well, like he was secure in his position as a person. Her heart ached to see that he was so different than the shy boy that she has known her whole childhood.

“Your mum told me to bring the cake at the last minute, I didn’t have time to look for another gift for you—”

“It’s perfect.” She interrupted him.

And she meant it. She didn’t care about fancy gifts when she had a beautiful home-made birthday cake and his presence all to herself.

He took out a lighter from his pocket and lit the candle. “Here’s to another year for you,” he said.

Their fingers brushed as she took the cake from his hands and blew the candle out.

“One more year,” she repeated and took a bite of the cake. It was perfect, as she knew it would be. It couldn’t be any other way, since her mum made it herself.

“You’ve got some frosting. Here, let me…” He said and wiped her cheek with his thumb. His hand lingered there and dropped to rest on her shoulder, in an open and genuine way he only showed when he was too tired to think better of it.

She could see the hesitation in his eyes and grabbed his hand before he could remove it. “Thank you. For bringing me this.”

He cleared his throat nervously and turned away to hide his blushing face. “Anytime.”

And she thought maybe she could learn to like birthdays again.


End file.
